Cooking Seasonally with the Forgiones

When you’re cooking with the first family of American cuisine, you either go big or go home. That’s why for the Forgiones' Flavor! Napa Valley demonstration, the mouthwatering topic was steak. And not just any old steak: a big, thick juicy cut of rib eye.

As Larry, Marc, Bryan and Sean walked the audience through their rib eye steak with parsnip hash and bone marrow gremolata recipe (below), they revealed several noteworthy tips.

Iron Chef Marc recommends using dry aged steak and even more important, using dry aged steak scraps. At his restaurants, the scraps are kept in a boiling pot seasoned with garlic, thyme and rosemary and used as beef stock.

When sauteing steak, do not disturb it, or “play with your meat,” says Iron Chef Marc. The extra fiddling with the pan and/or meat disturbs the cooking process.

Rest your steak standing upright. This allows the juices to travel steadily, resulting in an evenly cooked piece of steak.

At Chef Bryan’s house, extra bone marrow gremolata is stored in ice cube trays. Whenever they have need for it, they simply pop them out of the trays.

For the rib eye: Thoroughly pat the steak dry and season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F; position the rack in the middle.

In a large saute pan set over high heat, add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil begins to smoke, add the steak and sear for 1 minute, reduce the heat to medium-high and cook the steak, without disturbing, for another 4 minutes.

Once the bottom is charred, turn the steak over and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes to sear both sides.

Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for about 10 minutes for medium rare. Return the steak to the stovetop and over medium heat, add the butter, garlic and the thyme.

Raise the heat to high and baste the steak for about 2 minutes. Transfer the steak to a plate and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving; reserve the butter in the pan.

In the meantime and while the steak is cooking and resting, prepare the hash and set aside in a warm place.

For the parsnip hash: Place the parsnips in a sauce pan, cover with lightly salted water and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook for 10 minutes and strain. Dry the cooked parsnips on a paper towel.

In a nonstick pan, heat the olive oil to wavy hot. Carefully, add the parsnips and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until golden brown. Add the butter, garlic, onion, a little salt, and a few turns of pepper from the mill.

Continue to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Deglaze the pan with cream sherry and toss; add the heavy cream and cook for another minute or two until the cream thickens. Stir in the chives.

To serve, spoon the hash into a serving dish; slice the steak away from the bone, and place on a large platter. Spoon all the juices from resting and slicing the steak over the slices and finally spoon over the basting butter and serve.

Bone Marrow Gremolata

INGREDIENTS

12 marrow bones, 3" long

1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup chopped tarragon

6 bulbs garlic, finely chopped

Lemon zest

Ground black pepper to taste

METHOD

Place the Cabernet in a small sauce pan and reduce to 1/4 cup, about 8 minutes; set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Stand the marrow bones in an oven-proof pan and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the marrow begins to pull away from the bone. Remove it from the oven and let it cool to room temperature.

When cool enough to handle, remove all the marrow and all the pan drippings to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the marrow a few times then add all the other ingredients.

Pulses a few more times until the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Spoon a few tablespoons of gremolata over each cooked steak and spread to melt. Any remaining gremolata can be refrigerated for another time.

Recipe Credit: Larry Forgione, as presented at Flavor! Napa Valley. Published with permission of the author. All rights reserved.